Address Exchange System and Methods

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for an address exchange system including a controller configured to provide an API configured to receive an identifier from a user and further configured not to receive a physical address from the user, wherein the user provides an item for shipment to the physical address. In response to receiving the identifier, the controller is further adapted to request the physical address from a data storage system wherein the data storage system stores an association between the identifier and the physical address and further stores one or more permission settings defining situations in which the physical address is to be provided in response to receipt of the identifier. In response to receipt of the identifier, the data storage system tests the permission settings to determine whether or not to provide the associated physical address.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application incorporates by reference and claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application 61/697,824 filed on Sep. 7, 2012.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present subject matter relates generally to systems and methods foran online identification to a physical address exchange platform.

In today's society, people are identified by a plethora of identifiersincluding their name, social security number, bank account number,residential address, password, birth date, and email address, amongothers. Because many identifiers are confidential information, mostpeople prefer to keep their information private. However, individualsare continually asked to share their identifiers with third parties, forexample, by providing a mailing address to a third party or by providinga billing address when purchasing an item online. However, it may beunsafe to share identifiers, such as a physical address, with unknownindividuals. Moreover, the more confidential information an individualdiscloses, the more likely the person will be subjected to privacychallenges.

During a typical transaction, a sender selects an item from a retailer'swebsite to send to a receiver. During checkout, the sender must inputhis or her name, the billing address of the buyer, gift options, thename of the receiver, the address of the receiver, and the phone numberof the receiver. Based on the large amount of required information, manysenders decide not to complete the purchase owing to either not havingthe time to complete the checkout process or because the sender may nothave all of the receiver's personal information. For example, the sendermay not have the physical address of the recipient and, perhaps, doesnot feel comfortable asking for such personal information from thereceiver. In addition, physical addresses change often such that it isdifficult for senders to track the changes in address in order todetermine the most current address to use as the mailing address.

From a recipient's perspective, providing his or her residential addressis not safe. In addition, updating a change of address is often a timeconsuming and laborious process. Typically, a recipient must updatetheir address information in each organization. For example, a recipientmust update their address with the post office, department of motorvehicle, internal revenue service, energy company, magazinesubscriptions, place of employment, among a multitude of others.

In addition, conventional systems do not take into account therecipient's preference in shipping location. For example, a recipientmay want certain packages sent from friends to be mailed to his or herhome address, where as the recipient may want to gifts from colleaguesto be mailed to his or her work address.

Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods directed to anaddress system that does not jeopardize an individual's privacyinformation while taking into account a recipient's preferences.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for an addressexchange platform. Various examples of the systems and methods areprovided herein.

The present address exchange system is a technology platform thatmanages and provides confidential information, such as a residentialaddress, to third party merchants, retailers, and shipping companies.The present system provides various integration points with third partycompanies, such as retailers, merchants, shipping companies, governmentagencies, financial institutions, or any other organization thatcollects and uses an address of its members. In one example, the addressexchange system receives an email address of an intended recipient froma sender and provides a physical address of a receiver based on thesubmitted email address of the receiver. In other words, the systemallows senders to send packages and gifts to receivers based only on thesender providing a receiver's identification, such as the receiver'semail address or phone number, thereby maintaining the confidentialnature of a physical address.

In an embodiment, the address exchange system comprises a memory coupledto the controller, wherein the memory is configured to store programinstructions executable by the controller. In response to executing theprogram instructions, the controller is configured to provide an APIconfigured to receive an identifier from a user and further configurednot to receive a physical address from the user, wherein the userprovides an item for shipment to the physical address.

In response to receiving the identifier, the controller is furtheradapted to request the physical address from a data storage systemwherein the data storage system stores an association between theidentifier and the physical address and further stores one or morepermission settings defining situations in which the physical address isto be provided in response to receipt of the identifier. In response toreceipt of the identifier, the data storage system tests the permissionsettings to determine whether or not to provide the associated physicaladdress.

The determination as to whether or not to provide the associatedphysical address may further include verifying a password associatedwith the physical address, wherein the data storage system furtherstores a password linked to the associated identifier and physicaladdress.

The permission settings may include one or more domains to which thephysical address may be provided when the identifier is received fromthe one or more domains. Alternatively, or in addition to, thepermission settings may include a setting requiring the data storagesystem to request and receive approval to provide the associatedphysical address via a direct communication made according to apredefined communication protocol.

The predefined communication protocol may be an email message, an SMSmessage, a phone call, a mobile application communication, orcombinations thereof.

In an example, the user interface may be provided within an ecommerceplatform and/or an online shipping platform.

In another embodiment, the address exchange system comprises a memorycoupled to the controller, wherein the memory is configured to storeprogram instructions executable by the controller. In response toexecuting the program instructions, the controller is configured toprovide a data storage system storing an association between anidentifier and a physical address and further storing one or morepermission settings defining situations in which the physical address isto be provided in response to receipt of the identifier. The controlleris further configured to receive a request to provide the physicaladdress, wherein the request includes the identifier. In response toreceiving a request to provide the physical address, the data storagesystem tests the permission settings to determine whether or not toprovide the associated physical address.

The request to provide the physical address may be received from an API,wherein the API is configured to receive an identifier from the user andfurther configured not to receive the physical address from the user.The request to provide the physical address may further include apassword.

The determination as to whether or not to provide the associatedphysical address may further include verifying the password, wherein thedata storage system further stores a password linked to the associatedidentifier and physical address.

The permission settings may include one or more domains to which thephysical address may be provided when the request to provide thephysical address is received from the one or more domains. Thepermission settings may include a setting requiring the data storagesystem to request and receive approval to provide the associatedphysical address via a direct communication made according to apredefined communication protocol.

The predefined communication protocol may be an email message, an SMSmessage, a phone call, a mobile application communication, orcombinations thereof.

An advantage of the present systems and methods is providing a solutionto the challenge of sending gifts or packages without knowing therecipient's address. Similarly, the system does not require a recipientto disclose his or her residential address to third parties orstrangers.

A further advantage of the present systems and methods is providing asafe and secure way of mapping online and offline identifications,wherein the identifications may be used in various applications.

Yet another advantage of the present systems and methods is allowingmerchants to focus on their core business, instead of spending time andmoney directed to determining a correct address for shipments andtracking lost packages.

Another advantage of the present systems and methods is providing asingle platform to map online and offline identifications, therebyavoiding multiple registrations with each merchant of users' physicalmailing address.

A further advantage of the present systems and methods is providing moreefficient commerce and shipping solutions, including ecommercesolutions.

Another advantage of the present system is enabling retailers tocomplete more transactions and focus on their primary business insteadof spending time and resources devoted to obtaining and trackingphysical addresses.

Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the examples willbe set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of thefollowing description and the accompanying drawings or may be learned byproduction or operation of the examples. The objects and advantages ofthe concepts may be realized and attained by means of the methodologies,instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawing figures depict one or more implementations in accord withthe present concepts, by way of example only, not by way of limitations.In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same or similarelements.

FIG. 1 is a schematic of an embodiment of the address exchange system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of an embodiment of the address exchange system inrelation to a sender and receiver.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram including an embodiment of the address exchangesystem.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram including an embodiment of the address exchangesystem.

FIG. 5 is an example of a screen shot of a check out interface includingan option to enter the receiver's email address.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure provides an address exchange system 10 comprisinga memory 12 coupled to the controller 14, wherein the memory isconfigured to store program instructions executable by the controller14, as shown in FIG. 1. In response to executing the programinstructions, the controller 14 is configured to provide an API 16configured to receive an identifier 19 from a user 15 and furtherconfigured not to receive a physical address 18 from the user, whereinthe user 15 provides an item for shipment to the physical address 18.The user 15 may be any person or entity. In the majority of examples inthe present application, the user 15 is a retailer, merchant, orshipping entity. For example, in FIGS. 2-4, the user 15 is a retailer orshipping entity. However, the user 15 is not limited to retailers andshipping entities, but includes any organization, entity, or person thatuses a unique identifier to provide a physical mailing address.

FIG. 2 illustrates the interplay between the address exchange system 10and a sender 32, a user 15, and a receiver 30. For example, the sender32 may be a person that selects a gift from goods sold by a user 15(e.g., retailer), and desires the user 15 to ship the gift to theintended receiver 30. In another example, the sender 32 may be the sameperson or entity as the receiver 30, such as when a person buys andships an item to himself or herself. The user 15 (e.g., retailer)interacts with the controller 14 via the API 16. The API 16 isconfigured to receive an identifier 19 from the user 15, and furtherconfigured not to receive the physical address 18 from the user 15. Inother words, system 10 allows a sender 32 to send a shipment based onthe identifier 19 of the receiver 30.

Although throughout this disclosure the receiver 30 is identified by theidentifier 19 of an email address 20, it should be understood that anysuitable identifier 19 may be used. For example, identifier 19 may be atelephone number associated with the intended receiver 30, wherein thetelephone number is associated with the physical address 18. Similarly,the identifier 19 may be a social network identification of the receiver30, wherein the social network identification is associated with thephysical address 18 of the receiver 30. In other words, the controller14 may be configured to receive any identifier 19 of the receiver 30that is associated with the receiver's 30 physical address 18,including, but not limited to, an email address 20, social networkidentification, phone number, or any other unique identifier, orcombinations thereof.

In one example, a sender 32 selects an item for shipment to a physicaladdress 18 through a checkout interface 17 that is in communication withthe user 15. The checkout interface 17 and/or the API 16 may be providedwithin an ecommerce platform or product, as well as an online shippingplatform. For example, the sender 32 may provide the identifier 19associated with the intended receiver 30 of the item to the checkoutinterface 17. The user 15 may then provide the email address 20 to thecontroller 14 via the API 16.

In addition to providing the identifier 19 of the receiver 30 to thecontroller 14, the user 15 may also provide information associated withthe sender 32. For example, the user 15 may provide identification ofthe sender and transaction details associated with the item beingpurchased and/or shipped. The identification of the sender 32 mayinclude a name, email address, telephone number, address, social networkidentification, or any other suitable identification of the sender 32.The transaction details may include the retailer or store the item ispurchased or shipped, the content of the item being shipped, the timeframe of the shipping dates, among other information. In other words,the controller 14 may be configured to provide an API 16 configured toreceive an identifier 19 associated with the receiver 30, anidentification associated with the sender 32, and transaction detailsassociated with the item, and further configured not to receive aphysical address 18 from the user, wherein the sender 32 provides anitem for shipment to the physical address 18.

In response to receiving the identifier 19, the controller 14 is furtheradapted to request the physical address 18 from a data storage system 22wherein the data storage system 22 stores an association between theidentifier 19 and the physical address 18. The data storage system 22may be any suitable storage system, for example, a database.

The data storage system 22 further stores one or more permissionsettings 24 defining situations in which the physical address 18 is tobe provided in response to receipt of the identifier 19. The permissionsettings 24 may include one or more domains to which the physicaladdress 18 may be provided when the identifier 19 is received from theone or more domains. For example, the permission settings 24 may be setsuch that, if the identifier 19 is received from a certain user 15, suchas a specific person or website associated with a certain retailer, thenthe controller 14 is authorized to provide the physical address 18 tothat specific person or retailer. The permission settings 24 may includeproviding the identification of the sender 32 and transaction detailsassociated with the item being received.

Alternatively, or in addition to, the permission settings 24 may includea setting requiring the data storage system 22 to request and receiveapproval to provide the associated physical address 18 via a directcommunication made according to a predefined communication protocol 28.For example, the approval may be dependent on the identification of thesender 32 as well as the transaction details. In other words, thepermission settings 24 may include granting permission if the request isfrom a certain sender 32. However, the permission settings 24 mayinclude denying permission to receive the item if the transactiondetails indicate the item is flowers, for example, if the receiver 30has allergies.

The predefined communication protocol 28 may be an email message, an SMSmessage, a phone call, a mobile application communication, such as amobile app to app communication, or combinations thereof. For example,the permission settings 24 may be set such that the controller 14 isconfigured to send an email to a person or entity (e.g., receiver 30)associated with the physical address 18 requesting permission to providethe physical address 18 to the user 15, for example, a merchant orshipping company. Further, the permission settings 24 may be customizedby the receiver 30 via an API to manage the privacy and settings for thereceiver 30 and sender 32, wherein the API 16 is in communication withthe controller 14, as shown in FIG. 2.

In response to receipt of the identifier 19, the data storage system 22tests the permission settings 24 to determine whether or not to providethe associated physical address 18. For example, if the permissionsettings 24 include sending an SMS message, then the controller 14 sendsan SMS message requesting authority to provide the physical address 18to the user 15. If authority is granted, then the controller 14 providesthe physical address 18 to the user 15. As understood by one skilled inthe art, the identifier 19 and/or the physical address 18 may beencrypted when sent and decrypted when received.

The permission settings 24 may be set such that the controller 14 isconfigured to receive and verify a password 26 in order to provide thephysical address 18 to the user 15. Further, the determination as towhether or not to provide the associated physical address 18 may furtherinclude verifying the password 26, wherein the data storage system 22further stores the password 26 linked to the associated email address 20and physical address 18. In other words, in addition to requestingauthority from a person or entity associated with the physical address18, the controller 14 may be configured to request and confirm apassword 26 associated with the physical address, before authority isreceived or denied.

Although throughout the description, the example of the controller 14receiving an identifier 19 from the user 15 and providing an associatedphysical address 18 to the user 15 is used, it should be understood thatother methods of providing the physical address 18 are contemplatedwithin this disclosure. For example, upon receiving an identifier 19 andobtaining the associated physical address 18 from the data storagesystem 22, the physical address 18 may be provided to the user 15 intext form or as a code, such as bar code or QR code, or any otherencrypted manner. When user 15 is a retailer, for example, the physicaladdress 18 is provided to the user 15 in the form of a shipping labelincluding a bar code or QR code, the physical address 18 remainsconfidential and may not be disclosed to the user 15.

As shown in FIG. 3, a sender 32 provides an email address 20 of theintended receiver 30 to the user 15 (e.g., retailer/shipping entity).The user 15 then sends the email address 20 to the controller 14, viathe API 16. The controller 14 sends an email (or other communicationprotocol 28; not shown) to the receiver 30 requesting permission to sendthe physical address 18 to the user 15. If the receiver 30 grants therequest, the controller 14 accesses the data storage system 22 andobtains the physical address 18 that corresponds to the email address20, and provides the physical address 18 to the user 15 (e.g.,retailer/shipping entity). Importantly, the physical address 18 is notprovided to the sender 32. Instead, the physical address 18 remainsconfidential and only sent to the user 15, such as a retailer orshipping entity, for shipping purposes.

In one example, a sender 32 provides to the user 15 three pieces ofinformation: an email address of the intended receiver, anidentification of the sender 32, and transaction details surrounding theitem selected by the sender 32. The user 15 then provides theidentification of the sender 32 and the transaction details to thereceiver 30 for permission to provide the user 15 with the physicaladdress 18 associated with the receiver 30.

In addition, the user 15 is separate and distinct from the addressexchange system 10. In other words, one of the main purposes of theaddress exchange system 10 is to confidentially supply physicaladdresses to users 15, such as merchants and shipping companies. Theaddress exchange system 10 is not included within a retailer or shippingcompany. In other words, the address exchange system 10 is anindependent entity from the user 15.

In one example, if a sender 32 selects an item for shipment to aphysical address 18, wherein the identifier 19 is not contained in thedata storage system 12, the controller 14 may be configured to send anemail or other communication to the person or entity associated with theidentifier 19 requesting, not only permission to provide the physicaladdress 18, but the content of the physical address 18. Further, thecontroller 14 may be configured to send an email to the person or entityassociated with the identifier 19 requesting authority to store an emailaddress 20 and associated physical address 18 in the data storage system22.

For example, in FIG. 4 the sender 32 sends an email address 20 of thereceiver 30 to the user 15 (e.g., retailer/shipping company) via thecheckout interface 17, wherein the user 15 sends the email address 20 tothe controller 14. The controller 14 may determine the email address 20is not included in the data storage system 22, at which point thecontroller 14 may send an email invitation to the email address 20requesting permission to store the email address 20 and an associatedphysical address 18 in the data storage system 22. If the receiver 30registered the email address 20 and physical address 18 in the datastorage system 22, the controller 14 provides the physical address 18 tothe user 15.

In addition, FIG. 4 depicts a situation in which, upon receipt of anemail address 20 not contained in the data storage system 22, thecontroller 14 is configured to request a zip code from the receiver 30,along with an invitation to register the receiver's 30 email address 20and physical address 18 in the data storage system 22. Onceauthorization and the zip code is received from the receiver 30, the zipcode may be used to estimate and provide a maximum shipping charge tothe sender 32. If the user 15 receives confirmation from the sender 32to proceed with the shipment based on the estimated charge, thetransaction may be completed. Subsequently, the receiver 30 may providethe physical address 18 and complete registration. Once the physicaladdress 18 is received, the controller 14 may then provide an exactshipping cost and sales tax to the user 15. The user 15 may thenreimburse the sender 32 for any overage charges in the shipping and taxcosts. If the email address 20 that is contained in the data storagesystem 22 is received by the controller 14, the address exchange system10 may immediately calculate the shipping costs and sales tax for thesender 32 to confirm before completing the purchase.

In another example, upon receipt of an email address 20, the controller14 is configured to request a zip code from the receiver 30. If thereceiver 30 is not registered, the controller 14 indicates to the user15 that the zip code is not available. The user 15 then calculates themaximum shipping cost and maximum sales tax to complete the transaction.After the transaction is complete, the controller is configured torequest registration from the receiver 30, wherein registration includessubmitting a physical address 18 associated with the email address 20 ofthe receiver, to be stored in the data storage system 22. Uponregistration, the controller is configured to supply the user 15 withthe physical address 18 of the receiver 30 such that the user 15 maycalculate the exact sales tax and shipping cost, wherein the sales taxand shipping costs are based on the zip code of the receiver 30. Theuser 15 may then reimburse the sender 32 for any overcharged amount fromthe initial charged amount based on the maximum shipping and sales taxcosts. Alternatively, if the receiver 30 is registered (i.e., the emailaddress 20 is included in the data storage system 22), the controllermay immediately send the zip code of the receiver 30 to the user 15, inorder for the user 15 to calculate the sales tax and shipping costs,which will be presented to the sender 30. The sender 32 may then decideto submit the purchase of the item to be sent to the receiver 30.

In another embodiment, the address exchange system 10 comprises a memory12 coupled to the controller 14, wherein the memory 12 is configured tostore program instructions executable by the controller 14. In responseto executing the program instructions, the controller 14 is configuredto provide a data storage system 22 for storing an association betweenan identifier 19 and a physical address 18 and further storing one ormore permission settings 24 defining situations in which the physicaladdress 18 is to be provided in response to receipt of the identifier19. The controller 14 is further configured to receive a request toprovide the physical address 18, wherein the request includes theidentifier 19. In response to receiving a request to provide thephysical address 18, the data storage system 22 tests the permissionsettings 24 to determine whether or not to provide the associatedphysical address 18.

The request to provide the physical address 18 may be received from anAPI 16 through which a user 15 selects an item for shipment to aphysical address 18, wherein the API 16 is configured to receive anidentifier 19 from the user 15 and further configured not to receive thephysical address 18 from the user 15. As described above, the request toprovide the physical address 18 may further include a password 26.

As shown in FIG. 2, the address exchange system 10 may include variousmodules including recommendation services 34, advertisement services 36,address book services 38, social media services 40, sample managementservices 42, alert services 44, and permission and privacy settings 46.Based on a sender's 32 previous purchases or preferences, therecommendation services 34 may suggest the user 15 to promote certainproducts to the sender 32. For example, if a sender 32 has indicated inhis preferences that he is interested in fishing, the recommendationservice 34 may suggest, with the sender's 32 permission, to the user 15to market fishing products to the sender 32.

Similarly, the advertisement services 36 may provide tailoredadvertisements to a sender 32 based on the sender's 32 previouspurchases or the sender's saved preferences. The address exchange system10 may also include a sample management service 42 that allows senders32 and receivers 30 to provide authority to certain retailers to sendthemselves samples of the retailer's products by simply inputting theiremail address 20 into a designated input in the preference section. Insome instances, a user 15 may indicate to the address exchange system 10that the user 15 needs to distribute a number of samples to appropriatereceivers 30. The controller 14 may be configured to then selectappropriate receivers 30 based on the receiver's 30 preferences andprovide the physical address 18 of all of the appropriate receivers 30to the user 15 for shipment of the samples.

The address exchange system 10 may further include an address bookservice 38 that allows senders 32 to manage their contacts by adding,removing, updating, and deleting their contact list via a user interfaceor an API in communication with the controller 14, as shown in FIG. 2.When a sender 32 is ready to checkout online from the user 15, thesender 32 may select an option wherein user 15 may collect informationabout the sender 32 from the address book of the sender 32 such that thesender 32 does not need to provide information about himself or herself.The sender 32 may also provide one or more receivers 30 from the user'saddress book, wherein the address book lists contacts and associatedemail addresses 20. For example, the checkout interface 17 may displayan option requesting access to the sender's 32 address book. The sender32 may also classify the contacts in predefined groups and may haveassociated shipping preferences. For example, the group, “Family &Friends”, may be associated with a shipping preference that indicatesthe controller 14 to provide the receiver's 30 home address, whereas thegroup, “Colleagues”, may have a shipping preference that indicates tothe controller 14 to provide the receiver's 30 work address. Further,the address book service 38 may be in communication with a social mediaservice 40. For example, a sender 32 may import his contacts from asocial networking site into the address book service 38 of the addressexchange system 10.

As discussed above, the address exchange system 10 may include a privacyand permission setting module 46 that allows receivers 30 to programpreferred privacy and permission settings. The preferred privacy andpermission settings may be dependent on each sender 32 or groups, suchas “Family & Friends.” In addition, the address exchange system 10 mayinclude an alert service 44 that sends a sender 32 or a receiver 30 anotification regarding a shipment, a notification of relevant products,a message regarding an advertisement, a social media alert, amongothers.

As mentioned above, the address exchange system 10 may also include arecommendation service 34 that stores a sender's 32 life stylepreferences, birthdates, wish lists, gift receiving behaviors, andproduct reviews. Various third parties, such as retailers, may use thesender's 32 preference information to provide suitable samples andrecommendations of other products through the sample management service42 and/or the advertisement services 36 of the address exchange system10. For example, the recommendation service 34 may track the receivedproducts and services of the receiver 30 and, upon permission from thereceiver 30, share the behavior information with users 15, such asretailers or merchants. With the behavior information, users 15 (e.g.,retailers and merchants) may be capable of providing real timerecommendations via the recommendation services 34, advertisements viathe advertisement services 36, and/or offers via the offer managementservices 42, all based on the receiver's 30 activity. Similar services,may be presented to a sender 32 based on the sender's 32 activities.

The receiver 30 may also manage his or her physical address 18 through auser interface or an API in communication with the controller 14. Forexample, if the receiver 30 needs to change or add a physical address18, the receiver 30 may do so by, for example, logging onto his or heraccount within the address exchange system 10. In addition, the addressexchange system 10 may include an update address service that pushes thereceiver's 30 new address to all third party service providers. Forexample, instead of a receiver 30 contacting each third party serviceprovider (e.g., financial institution, magazine subscriptions, utilitycompany, internal revenue service, etc.), the address exchange system 10automatically contacts and updates the receiver's 30 address with eachthird party service provider within the receiver's address book.

As mentioned above, the check out interface 17 and/or the API 16 may beprovided within an ecommerce platform and/or shipping platform. Further,as shown in FIG. 5, the sender 32 may provide an email address 20 duringcheck out. For example, instead of entering in a shipping address, thesender 32 enters the email address 20 of the receiver 30. The associatedphysical address 18 is provided by the address exchange system 10, asdescribed above.

The address exchange system 10 may be integrated within a check outsystem associated with the user 15 by any suitable manner. For example,the integration may be through a secured, customized API thatfacilitates data flow between a checkout platform of the user 15 and theaddress exchange system 10. Alternatively, an external plugin to thecheckout module from the address exchange system 10 may be provided.Customized extensions may be created for multiple ecommerce platformsand numerous retailers and merchants. The address exchange system 10 mayalso be in communication with a payment provider during check out.

As shown, the system 10 is in direct communication with the searchablestorage structure 22, which, in one example, may be a database. Ofcourse, in other embodiments, the system 10 may be in communication withthe database through a network. While shown and described as a database,it is understood that the database may be any number of databasesadapted to support the necessary data management to support the variousfeatures and functions of the system 10 described herein. It is furthercontemplated that a database, as understood in the traditional sense,may not be a requirement of the system 10 described herein, and that anyother mechanism or mode of data management may be employed.

In one example, the system 10 includes an electronic device, such as aportable electronic device embodied in a touchscreen-enabled smartphoneas the user interface 30. However, it is understood that the teachingsprovided may be applied to numerous variations of electronic deviceswith user interfaces 30, including desktop computers, remote controls,etc., as will be recognized by those skilled in the art based on theteachings herein.

As shown in FIG. 1, aspects of the systems described herein arecontrolled by one or more controllers 14. The one or more controllers 14may be adapted run a variety of application programs, access and storedata, including accessing and storing data in associated databases, andenable one or more interactions as described herein. Typically, the oneor more controllers 14 are implemented by one or more programmable dataprocessing devices. The hardware elements, operating systems, andprogramming languages of such devices are conventional in nature, and itis presumed that those skilled in the art are adequately familiartherewith.

For example, the one or more controllers 14 may be a PC basedimplementation of a central control processing system utilizing acentral processing unit (CPU), memory 14 and an interconnect bus. TheCPU may contain a single microcontroller, or it may contain a pluralityof microprocessors for configuring the CPU as a multi-processor system.The memory 14 include a main memory, such as a dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM) and cache, as well as a read only memory, such as a PROM,EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, or the like. The system 10 may also include any formof volatile or non-volatile memory 14. In operation, the memory 14stores at least portions of instructions for execution by the CPU anddata for processing in accord with the executed instructions.

The one or more controllers 14 may also include one or more input/outputinterfaces for communications with one or more processing systems.Although not shown, one or more such interfaces may enablecommunications via a network, e.g., to enable sending and receivinginstructions electronically. The communication links may be wired orwireless.

The one or more controllers 14 may further include appropriateinput/output ports for interconnection with one or more outputmechanisms (e.g., monitors, printers, touchscreens, motion-sensing inputdevices, etc.) and one or more input mechanisms (e.g., keyboards, mice,voice, touchscreens, bioelectric devices, magnetic readers, RFIDreaders, barcode readers, motion-sensing input devices, etc.) serving asone or more user interfaces for the controller 14. For example, the oneor more controllers 14 may include a graphics subsystem to drive theoutput mechanism. The links of the peripherals to the system may bewired connections or use wireless communications.

Although summarized above as a PC-type implementation, those skilled inthe art will recognize that the one or more controllers 14 alsoencompasses systems such as host computers, servers, workstations,network terminals, and the like. Further one or more controllers 14 maybe embodied in a device, such as a mobile electronic device, like asmartphone or tablet computer. In fact, the use of the term controller14 is intended to represent a broad category of components that are wellknown in the art.

Hence aspects of the systems and methods provided herein encompasshardware and software for controlling the relevant functions. Softwaremay take the form of code or executable instructions for causing acontroller 14 or other programmable equipment to perform the relevantsteps, where the code or instructions are carried by or otherwiseembodied in a medium readable by the controller 14 or other machine.Instructions or code for implementing such operations may be in the formof computer instruction in any form (e.g., source code, object code,interpreted code, etc.) stored in or carried by any tangible readablemedium.

As used herein, terms such as computer or machine “readable medium”refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to aprocessor for execution. Such a medium may take many forms. Non-volatilestorage media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such asany of the storage devices in any computer(s) shown in the drawings.Volatile storage media include dynamic memory, such as the memory 14 ofsuch a computer platform. Common forms of computer-readable mediatherefore include for example: a floppy disk, a flexible disk, harddisk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards paper tape, any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any othermemory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a controller 50can read programming code and/or data. Many of these forms of computerreadable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of oneor more instructions to a processor for execution.

It should be noted that various changes and modifications to theembodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in theart. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the present invention and without diminishingits attendant advantages. For example, various embodiments of the methodand portable electronic device may be provided based on variouscombinations of the features and functions from the subject matterprovided herein.

We claim:
 1. An address exchange system comprising: a controller; amemory coupled to the controller, wherein the memory is configured tostore program instructions executable by the controller; wherein inresponse to executing the program instructions, the controller isconfigured to: provide an API configured to receive an identifier from auser and further configured not to receive a physical address from theuser, wherein the user provides an item for shipment to the physicaladdress; wherein in response to receiving the identifier, the controlleris further adapted to request the physical address from a data storagesystem wherein the data storage system stores an association between theidentifier and the physical address and further stores one or morepermission settings defining situations in which the physical address isto be provided in response to receipt of the identifier; wherein, inresponse to receipt of the identifier, the data storage system tests thepermission settings to determine whether or not to provide theassociated physical address.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein thedetermination as to whether or not to provide the associated physicaladdress further includes verifying a password associated with thephysical address, wherein the data storage system further stores thepassword linked to the associated identifier and physical address. 3.The system of claim 1 wherein the permission settings include one ormore domains to which the physical address may be provided when theidentifier is received from the one or more domains.
 4. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the permission settings include a setting requiring thedata storage system to request and receive approval to provide theassociated physical address via a direct communication made according toa predefined communication protocol.
 5. The system of claim 4 whereinthe predefined communication protocol is an email message.
 6. The systemof claim 4 wherein the predefined communication protocol is an SMSmessage.
 7. The system of claim 4 wherein the predefined communicationprotocol is a phone call.
 8. The system of claim 4 wherein thepredefined communication protocol is a mobile application communication.9. The system of claim 1 wherein the API is provided within an ecommerceplatform.
 10. The system of claim 1 wherein the API is provided withinan online shipping platform.
 11. An address exchange system comprising:a controller; a memory coupled to the controller, wherein the memory isconfigured to store program instructions executable by the controller;wherein in response to executing the program instructions, thecontroller is configured to: provide a data storage system storing anassociation between an identifier and a physical address and furtherstoring one or more permission settings defining situations in which thephysical address is to be provided in response to receipt of theidentifier; receive a request to provide the physical address, whereinthe request includes the identifier; and in response to receiving arequest to provide the physical address, the data storage system teststhe permission settings to determine whether or not to provide theassociated physical address.
 12. The system of claim 11 wherein therequest to provide the physical address is received from an API, whereinthe API is configured to receive an identifier from the user and furtherconfigured not to receive the physical address from the user.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11 wherein the request to provide the physical addressfurther includes a password.
 14. The system of claim 13 wherein thedetermination as to whether or not to provide the associated physicaladdress further includes verifying the password, wherein the datastorage system further stores a password linked to the associatedidentifier and physical address.
 15. The system of claim 11 wherein thepermission settings include one or more domains to which the physicaladdress may be provided when the request to provide the physical addressis received from the one or more domains.
 16. The system of claim 11wherein the permission settings include a setting requiring the datastorage system to request and receive approval to provide the associatedphysical address via a direct communication made according to apredefined communication protocol.
 17. The system of claim 16 whereinthe predefined communication protocol is an email message.
 18. Thesystem of claim 16 wherein the predefined communication protocol is anSMS message.
 19. The system of claim 16 wherein the predefinedcommunication protocol is a phone call.
 20. The system of claim 16wherein the predefined communication protocol is a mobile applicationcommunication.